We are fast approaching the holiday season. As a lot owner or committee member in a strata building around Australia, do you know what to do if there is an emergency in your lot or the building over the Christmas and New Year period? Have you thought it through? Contractors, and your Strata Manager, may not be easily contactable. Do you have a plan in place? If not, it’s not too late to get organised.
We’ve received a few questions concerning this problem, so we set out to ask industry leaders around Australia to provide a little guidance. We hope this helps the end of year break in your strata scheme run a little more smoothly.
New South Wales
As the Festive Season approaches and as many service providers close during that period, it is important we all prepare to manage emergencies that might occur.
In case of emergency for urgent repairs over the holiday period, we recommend you first call your strata managing agent’s after-hours/emergency contact number.
In case your strata management company does not have such a service, you should contact your strata manager before their office closure or before the public holidays commence and ask them to provide you with an emergency contractors list who are open over that period.
Such a list should be placed on the noticeboard or circulated to all owners and occupiers. Tenants should also refer to their leases for emergency contacts in relation to lot property repairs within their respective lot.
Owners and occupiers should be warned that they will be held liable for all costs and expenses incurred unless the repair is the Owners Corporation’s responsibility or the repair is not a bona fide emergency. In saying the above, we suggest that a disclaimer or notation as to same be included in relation to emergency procedures over the Festive Season.
However, all buildings which have building managers should refer to their building managers to confirm if any emergency procedures are in place over the festive holiday season.
Leanne Habib Premium Strata E: info@premiumstrata.com.au P: 02 9281 6440
Queensland
If you have an emergency situation over the holiday period you should be able to contact your strata manager on a provided emergency number. Otherwise, there are different steps to follow depending on the nature of your building:
- If your building has a building manager they should be contacted at their listed contact or emergency number.
- Committee members should be aware of the regular contractors who attend the site and should try and contact these in the first instance.
- Individual owners can contact available contractors to attend if there is no other alternative.
- Tenants should contact their property manager as per their tenancy agreement.
It is important to note that costs of an emergency call out where the contractor is engaged by an owner are not automatically the responsibility of the body corporate. The body corporate would usually only bear costs if the property in question were common property and the costs were reasonable. As such, owners should be cautious when engaging contractors without authority and may need to limit the amount of work done. It may be reasonable to engage a contractor to stop a problem, but if large repairs are required it may be necessary to wait for confirmation over whose responsibility they are.
It is also important to note that emergency call outs during out of hours periods should be for emergencies only.
William Marquand Tower Body Corporate E: willmarquand@towerbodycorporate.com.au P: 07 5609 4924
Victoria
It is important over the Christmas period to be aware of the opening hours of your Owners Corporation Management company and to familiarise yourself with the after hours contact details in case of a common property maintenance emergency.
Many offices will operate with a ‘skeleton staff’ around this period and have someone on hand to assist you in case of an emergency. But it is important to remember that opening hours may differ from the rest of the year (e.g. 10am-3pm instead of 9am-5pm)
As early as possible prior to Christmas, reach out to your OCM to confirm any days they may be closed and to confirm their after hours process. Your management company will likely circulate this information to you in December, so be sure to look out for this communication.
If a common property maintenance emergency occurs within the opening hours provided by your OCM, contact their office via telephone, not email.
If a common property maintenance emergency occurs outside of opening hours, then you may need to contact a different company, which is why it’s important to understand the after hours process. If your property has a dedicated Building Manager, they should be your first point of contact wherever possible.
It is important to note that any after hours process provided by your OCM will apply to common property maintenance emergencies only. If the after hours process is enacted and the situation is deemed not to be common property or not an emergency, you may be liable for any expenses incurred by the OC.
The Knight Email P: 03 9509 3144
Western Australia
We all know that Murphy’s law would have it that any possible emergency that can happen in a Strata Complex will happen when everything is shut down for Christmas.
So, who should an owner or resident in a strata complex contact when things go wrong just as they are settling in for a relaxing Christmas?
Below we have endeavoured to provide some guidance as to the available options in terms of contact options in emergency situations. We would also recommend or suggest the strata owners familiarize themselves with any out of hours policies or procedures their Strata Company has prior to any periods of business closure. For people renting, this would be any policies or procedures their rental agent provides.
Life Threatening & Dangerous Situations
Dial 000 – Please remember this number is for life threatening emergencies only.
Police 131 444
Fire 133 337
Ambulance 9334 1222
Water Police 131 444
The Department of Fire and Emergency services are also available on 132 500. They can assist with:
- Assisting with significant structural damage like collapsed roofs or ceilings
- Making temporary emergency repairs to homes and buildings
- Removing fallen trees that have damaged homes and cars
- Sandbagging areas in danger of flooding
- Pumping out flood water
- Rescuing trapped or injured people, and helping people relocate if they are in danger
Now that we have those vital contact details out of the way, let’s take a look at possible contact options for other emergencies that may not be life threatening. Firstly, is the emergency relates to the lot itself – which in most cases is inside the unit? Then it is not likely to be a Strata Company related matter and you should make your own arrangements.
In most cases, the Strata Manager will provide a list of emergency contact numbers. If this is not the case, I would recommend trying the Strata Managers usual number or looking for an after-hours number on their website.
If your emergency is likely to be an insurance claim, contact the insurer. They may also assist in sending relevant after-hours trades.
If you cannot get in contact with your strata manager, then it is always a good idea to contact the usual trades person’s who work on your building. Usually, plant or equipment such as gates, lifts, switchboards will have stickers on them that might help identify this contractor. Failing that we would perhaps recommend browsing the LookUpStrata Directory or the Strata Communities Directory for a suitable contractor.
Finally, it is always good to be aware of the following:
- Wester Power Emergencies 13 13 51
- Water Corporation Emergencies 13 13 75
Luke Downie Realmark E: ldownie@realmark.com.au P: 08 9328 0999
South Australia
If you experience an emergency over the Christmas break, the first point of call should be your Strata Manager. Different companies have different sets up for the closure period, with some companies having an emergency number to call, others providing a list of contractors to use and in some cases, owners are asked to seek their own contractor.
Before you engage a contractor to carry out the work, first you should assess if the work is in fact urgent, such as burst pipe, roof leak etc, or can it wait to be attended to during normal business hours as contractors do charge higher rates for attending to works after hours.
The risk in arranging your own contractor is also knowing who is responsible for the repairs you are requesting. You may believe that the repair would fall under your Corporation’s responsibility, however, this is not always the case. Most unit owners simply believe that if the item forms part of the building or is outside, it is simply a Corporation responsibility. However, for example, Hot Water Services and taps in private yard areas are considered an owners responsibility as they service only your unit. If you are a Community Title and not a Strata, most if not all maintenance to your unit is an owners responsibility.
Action to take in an emergency
- Contact your Strata Manager to report the issue
- If they are unavailable contact any emergency contacts they may have provided, this may be in recent newsletters, on their website or in the message when you ring the office.
- If you have been advised to arrange your own contractor
- Consider if the work is urgent and must be attended to immediately – if so call a contractor
- If the work can wait assess when you think it should be attended and call a contractor to see if you can book the work in
- If the work is not urgent but needs to be attended consider sending an email to your Strata Manager who can assist you when they return from holidays.
Carrie McInerney Horner Management E: carrie@hornermanagement.com.au P: 08 8234 5777
This post appears in Strata News #535 and #676.
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